The present invention relates to a belt buckle for joining the ends of a belt, and more particularly to such a belt buckle which has a watch turned about an axis in and out of a center opening thereof, and releasably locked in the center opening by a spring-supported locking lever.
A wrist watch is designed to be worn on the wrist. However, a person may feel uncomfortable when wearing a wrist watch on the wrist. More particularly when wearing a wrist watch in a hot day, sweat may be gathered on the skin of the wrist beneath the casing of the wrist watch. In order to eliminate this problem, there are belt buckle manufacturers who incorporate a belt buckle with a watch. FIG. 1 shows a belt buckle having a watch Pivoted thereto. The watch is Pivoted to the buckle body of the belt buckle, and turned by hand between the closed position and the opened position. When turning the watch between the closed position and the opened position, much effort should be employed to the watch.
The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. According to one aspect of the present invention, the belt buckle comprises a buckle body having a center opening, a bottom notch and an elongated top slot, a watch Pivoted to the bottom notch of the buckle body and turned in and out of the center opening of the buckle body, a torsional spring connected between the buckle body and the watch to force the watch out of the center opening of the buckle body, and a locking lever turned about a pivot in the elongated top slot of the buckle body and forced by a spring in the elongated top slot into engagement with a locating groove at the top side of the watch to hold the watch in the center opening of the buckle body. According to another aspect of the present invention, the watch has a chamfered peripheral edge, which guides the watch into the center opening of the buckle body smoothly.